Jose Offerman charged with assault

Compassion can be a wonderful thing.

Juan Marichal is/was a good person that committed a similar act.

I for one am glad he wasn't banned.

Offerman should be punished, not banned, imo.

So let me understand this. After getting hit by a pitch, a player looses control and goes after an unarmed pitcher in the middle of the game with a bat as his weapon, hits the catcher in the head (giving him a concussion) trying to defend the pitcher (which if I understand correctly would have been a blow to the face but instead it broke a finger) and it's alright to let him continue to play because "he is a good person."

Hmmmm ... Sounds like O.J.'s kind of sport if that is the case.

Two Dodger fans were talking, one guy remarked how many guys named Eric had played for the Dodgers. Eric Davis, Eric Karros, Eric Gagne, and Eric Offerman. The other guy points that Offerman's name was actually Jose, the first guys says, "Dude, I was so used to seeing an E next to his name I just assumed it was Eric!"

Pulls 32 mil out of MLB
Gets a pink slip
Goes to independant league
Loses control with the bat
Has now established himself as a complete turd
Moma would be proud

Hey, this is part of the game when pitcher hits a batter.

Part of the game is NOT coming after a pitcher, or any player, umpire, manager, etc. with a weapon.

Ban for Life!!

Hope he gets a few years in prison too

Appauling.

Good guy or bad guy - makes no difference.

Jose needs to be in jail - for starters.

He is - clearly - a very dangerous individual.

Interesting.

Folks, if its OK for the pitcher to go after the batter, then its ok for the hitter to go after the pitcher.

In fact, the pitcher is clearly the guilty party here and the batter the injured party; the batter went after the pitcher AFTER the pitcher assaulted him, not before. You are allowed to defend yourself in our society.
Part of the game for the pitcher but not the batter? LOL why do you think the catcher gets in between the pitcher and his victim after the pitcher beans someone? Because hitters have gone after pitchers after they are thrown at for a long time.
Cant have it both ways. Either the pitcher, as instigator, should face stiffer charges or nobody faces charges.

Assault with deadly weapons. ( ball, bat, both, either, other. )


I repeat,.....

appauling.

Just Me, what planet are you from?

He ain't from around here! Ban him! He will have a great career in the NFL. Or he can room with PACMAN THUG in the LWA. Loser Wrestling Association.

So, on your planet, Infield08, it's OK to plunk a batter after he hits a dinger?

The article said that he was plunked in his next AB AFTER he hit a dinger..................

On my planet that is just as ugly to me as taking a swing with the bat..............

I have no problem with the batter going after the pitcher.

But with the bat? Is that normal?

Police report states Offerman was hit by a pitch in the calf

Link

..kinda like the truth serum in the Bond movie.

"Effective, but with serious side effects"

quote:

I have no problem with the batter going after the pitcher.

But with the bat? Is that normal?

A ML level fastball with a ML quality baseball can and has the ability to kill a player..........both can be "weapons"........

From Boston.com (the Boston Globe's site):

"He hit him with a cut fastball in the left calf," Bluefish manager and former major league pitcher Tommy John told the Post. "And the next thing you know, Offerman's going to the mound with his bat over his head taking swings at Beech. He took at least two, maybe even three (swings)."

"It was just a scary incident for everybody witnessing took place," said Porzio, who according to the Post signed a witness report after the attack. "Everybody was in shock at the time because it's not something you see. I've played 15 years and I've never seen that before.

"Everyone was fearful for Matt Beech because apparently something set Offerman off, because he's played a long time and nobody could believe what they were seeing. Unfortunately, though, he got out to the mound before we could. Luckily for Matt Beech, he was agile enough to dodge a bat. But it may have only been John Nathans taking one on the backswing in the head to have saved Matt Beech from really taking one in the face."

I wasn't there and I don't know what the pitcher's motives were. Maybe there was ill-intent, maybe not. If there was ill intent, I am certainly not condoning Beech's actions. Regardless, no one is justified in responding the way Offerman did. On my planet, if you are wronged in some way, you appeal to the game officials to act on your behalf.

More quotes from the LA Times website:

At 38, Offerman was hoping a strong showing with the Ducks might boost his career. He was hitting .335, and sent the first pitch of Tuesday night's game sailing into the net beyond the left-field fence for a home run.

When he came up again the next inning, he got hit in the left leg by Beech's second pitch.

That's when Offerman went wild.

"I knew it was intentional because the catcher, he said something to me, and when he hit me I realized he did it on purpose," Offerman said. "I overreacted, I ran to the mound with my bat in my hand."

Bridgeport catcher John Nathans got a concussion that's likely to sideline him for the rest of the season. Pitcher Matt Beech wound up with a broken finger.

Video clips and pictures of Offerman's attack drew attention all over.

"Did you see that?" said Minnesota star Torii Hunter, who said he's been friends with Offerman before and after he played for the Twins. "There's demons in everybody.

"Some people snap. Was it hot there, or something? Did the guy say something about his mama? You take a bat out there, you can get blackballed from baseball. That's deep."

Beech said he's played against Offerman for years, but hadn't spoken to him.

"I've never hit him before," Beech said. "I've always pitched inside to him, and I've always thrown him a lot of off-speed cutters."

City police, providing security during the game, arrested Offerman. He was charged with two counts of second-degree assault. Offerman posted $10,000 bond and is due in Bridgeport Superior Court Aug. 23.

Beech, also a former big leaguer, might be able to make his next start. He will talk to league officials before deciding how to handle the legal case. He said he felt he was assaulted.

"Absolutely," he said. "The man came at my head with a bat."

"Nathans tried to keep playing, but left the game with nausea and collapsed in the dugout. He was back at the ballpark Wednesday, with a hospital ID tag still on his wrist, but couldn't coherently answer questions. He's scheduled to undergo more tests Thursday."

If hitting a batter with a ball is assault than how about the hard slide into second base, or the runner bowling over the catcher, the slap tag by the first baseman on a pickoff, or the shortstop throwing a little sidearm as the runner comes to second.

With all of these, intent is in question. What Offerman did leaves no doubt as to is intent. He was going to beat the brains out of that pitcher.

As far as the argument that the batter has a right to defend himself, defend himself from what. The pitcher no longer had the ball he was defenseless. What it should be called is retribution and that is not a justifiable action.

Good points, deldad.

Agree Deldald, the game has its rough parts (always has) BUT heading to the mound swingen a bat is not one of them!!

while this is clearly ugly. i wouldn't want to see the umpires with arrest powers.the game can be rough and you can hurt people with a slide, or a pitched ball. but that shouldn't be termed as assault in a game setting. but it is if you read the law. the bat thing is going over the line. but i'm still not sold on arresting the guy,but i was wrong once before.

20dad, I see the point and don't totally disagree with it, BUT I would hate to see baseball go through what hockey did with the assault case a few years ago. Maybe this will put the limits on how far players can go?

It is also time to rethink the whole throwing at the hitter situation. The next time OZZIE or one of those knucklehead managers feels it is their teams best interest to throw at someone they should be reminded of Mike Coolbaugh.

deldad
your right as with anything limits must be adheared to, clearly this is over the limit. and as with the nfl these kids can go way over the limit. have to set an example i guess. as far as throwing at a batter i always think of tony c. ruined a great career.

quote:

Originally posted by 20dad:
deldad
your right as with anything limits must be adheared to, clearly this is over the limit. and as with the nfl these kids can go way over the limit. have to set an example i guess. as far as throwing at a batter i always think of tony c. ruined a great career.

There was a show on TV a few weeks ago about a kid for Atlanta (Greenburg I think) that was beaned in the back of the head in his first MLB at bat and I believe he is still trying to come back. I'm pretty sure it said it had been over a year and he was still trying to come back. I have never been in favor of head hunting, but I do believe pitching inside is a necessity and once in a great while, hitting a batter. I don't, however, believe that hitting a home run is a reason to hit someone. Showing up a pitcher, the other pitcher hitting a team mate on purpose without cause, or taking up for a team mate when he was wronged by the other team on a dirty play are.

In the case with Offerman, I see no reason for even going out to the mound, much less with a bat. Now, on my way to first, I may be letting the pitcher and maybe even the Manager, that I wasn't pleased with being hit and that if it happened again I would be showing him just how much pain my knuckles could cause.

If you throw at someones head in an at bat (whether you hit them or not) where it could be construed as a beaning situation before hand, there should be major punishment by MLB.

As far as intentionally running into the Catcher, SS, 2nd baseman or any other fielder, I believe that should be outlawed as well. It makes no sense to me for this to be against the rules all the way through your baseball career until the time you are being paid to play. For someone to be able to tee off on someone that makes millions of dollars and who generates millions of dollars is beyond crazy to me.

WHY IS THIS LEGAL IN PROFESSIONAL BALL AND NOWHERE ELSE???

"Head Hunting" is not the same as pitching "up and in" or backing the hitter off the plate

There are differences

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
"Head Hunting" is not the same as pitching "up and in" or backing the hitter off the plate

There are differences

Uhhh...yeah....I know. One I agree with, the other I don't.